What a relief to see a Tamil movie like E where love does not occupy centerstage but is on the margins.

With few exceptions, Tamil film makers have long displayed a disdainful contempt for moviegoers by way of repetitive love stories.

Jeeva plays the character of an orphan and petty criminal E while the voluptuous Kerala actress Nayantara is cast in the role of the bar dancer Jyothi, who falls in love with E.

Although E dares to stray from the beaten path and the story novel enough by Tamil movie standards, the movie still left us a wee bit dissatisfied. The fault, you see, is in its disjointed story where things sometimes happen without properly leading up to it. For instance, Jyothi falls in love with E in the blink of the viewer's eye.

Also, what Jyothi sees in the local rowdy E worthy of love is hard to figure for humble moviegoers not privy to what's on the director's mind.

Further, Nayantara's role as the bar dancer from Mumbai is poorly fleshed out. Maybe, her character is even irrelevant to the movie.

The villain of the movie is Dr.Ramakrishnan (Ashish Vidyarthi). Under the guise of providing medical care for poor folks in the slum, the doctor goes about injecting them with experimental drugs in his quest to develop biological weapons for sale on the global market.

While Jeeva does a decent enough job as the down to earth criminal, it's Pasupathy who sets the screen afire in the role of Nellaimani, the naxalite intent on killing Dr.Ramakrishna for his criminal deeds. An extraordinarily talented actor, Pasupathy, who delighted viewers in Virumandi, is a treat to watch.

For some inexplicable reason, Pasupathy's virtuouso performance reminds us of another acting dynamo, the Hollywood star Jack Nicholson.

Besides the solid performances by Pasupathy and Jeeva and the offbeat story, fine photography adds to the charm of E.

E's music is pedestrian. Kaadhal Enbadhu and the night club dance/song Kala Kala Kalai are two of the passable numbers.